Containers (such as plastic injection-molded buckets or pails or the like) come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Commonly, these have generally flat and/or smooth curved sidewalls. Sometimes reinforcing ribs or other features are formed or provided on the exterior and/or interior of the container. In many applications, the containers are designed to be nestable and stackable. When the containers are filled, the stacking loads can be substantial, and the sidewalls typically have to be designed and tested to support and withstand certain threshold requirements (to avoid failure when they are dropped or stacked, etc.).
When sufficient force is exerted downwardly on such containers, the container can collapse or “fail.” Commonly, this failure begins with or includes the weakest point of the container sidewall buckling in or out (toward or away from the inside of the container). Among other situations, such loading and buckling failures can occur when filled containers are stacked too high on each other. Even for unstacked single containers, however, sufficient force can cause such a failure.
It is desirable to provide a container with improved strength and durability to withstand heavy loads (such as imposed by stacking filled containers, or any other kind of force applied downwardly), without bending or crumpling.